New Delhi: The Centre is contemplating sending high-level multidisciplinary teams to states and union territories that are reporting a rise in COVID-19 cases, the Health Ministry said on Friday.

The Centre had on Thursday rushed high-level teams to districts of Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Manipur to support these states' efforts towards strengthening containment, surveillance, testing and efficient clinical management of coronavirus positive cases.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Health Ministry said the Centre is also contemplating sending such teams to other states and UTs that are witnessing a surge in COVID-19 positive cases.

"The Union government has advised the State/UT governments to adopt aggressive and widespread testing to ensure that the missed out and undetected positive COVID-19 cases are promptly identified for timely and effective tracing, containment and subsequent treatment," it said.

The ministry on Thursday had said with the spike in daily new COVID-19 cases and fatalities in Delhi, the spillover effect is being observed in the NCR regions and within Haryana and Rajasthan where the number of coronavirus positive patients is on the rise.

On Friday, the total number of coronavirus cases in India mounted to 90,04,365 and the death toll to 1,32,162, with the infection claiming 584 lives in a span of 24 hours, as per the health ministry data updated at 8 am.

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Dhanbad (Jharkhand) (PTI): At least four workers died after being buried under coal slurry in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district on Saturday, a police official said.

The incident took place at Moonidih coal washery in the command area of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL).

"Bodies of all four workers were dug out of debris during a rescue operation," Putki police station in-charge Waqar Hussain told PTI.

The incident took place when coal slurry was being loaded into trucks by workers, during which a large chunk of slurry fell and trapped several workers underneath, officials said.

The deceased have been identified as Manik Bauri, Dinesh Bauri, Deepak Bauri, and Hemlal Gope.

Meanwhile, the family members of the deceased and local villagers placed the bodies in front of the washery gate and began a protest.

They demanded compensation, jobs for dependents and action against those responsible for the incident.

Police and administration officials are trying to pacify the protesters, an official said.